


Court Smiles

by RavenLilyRose



Series: A Queen on the TARDIS [2]
Category: Chronicles of Narnia - All Media Types, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-08
Updated: 2019-07-08
Packaged: 2020-06-24 18:42:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19729540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RavenLilyRose/pseuds/RavenLilyRose
Summary: Rose gets an insight into the life of Susan Pevensie and her siblings. Susan is pulled back to times and memories long gone.





	Court Smiles

Susan found Rose looking at the pictures that Susan had set out. She watched for a while as the younger girl studied them. After a few minutes, she made her presence known and the blond smiled shyly at her in greeting. Susan returned her smile. "Which one are you looking at?"

Rose turned the picture around and held it out for Susan to see. "You all look so happy."

Susan hummed noncommittally. "You would think so, wouldn't you."

Rose cocked her head, questioningly, her tongue pocking out from behind her teeth as she puzzled over the statement. "What do you mean? Are you not happy?"

Susan took the picture from her and gestured for her to come closer. "Look here," she said, pointing at the younger of the two boys in the picture. "You see how Edmund's smile is just a little too wide, and how Peter is very carefully not touching Edmund?" Rose could only barely see either thing, but didn't comment and let Susan continue. "And there," her finger moved to the two girls sitting in front. "Lucy's back is too straight and my fingers are curled into my palms. If you could see their eyes, you would know that Lucy's eyes had turned stormy, Edmund's eyes had darkened almost to black, Peter's were guarded instead of open and welcoming, and mine resembled cold, hard steel." She was still looking at the picture, but seemed to be seeing through it and into the past. "The biggest thing is that none of us are touching any more than is necessary." She tore her eyes from the picture and stared across the room at something that Rose couldn't see. "Honestly, my posturing should have been my first clue that it was all real." The last bit seemed to be muttered to herself instead of directed at Rose, so Rose decided to leave it be and not ask about it.

The two stood in silence for a few moments, Susan absorbed in her own head and Rose unsure of what she should say. Eventually, though, she did break the silence. "What would it have looked like if you were genuinely happy?"

Susan turned back to look at her and handed the picture back before moving to her desk. "Hold on. I think I have one I can show you." Susan turned and rummaged a bit in a drawer before pulling out a new picture. This one seemed to have been taken only a few months before the last one, and after having everything in the last one be pointed out to her, the differences were striking. The girls were sitting right next to each other and holding hands with the boys standing behind them. They were standing close enough to each other that their arms were brushing and their hands on the girls' shoulders seemed much more affectionate than in the previous picture. Edmund's smile was smaller, but far more genuine and Peter had some form of contact with each of his siblings. Lucy wasn't slouched, but she definitely wasn't sitting completely straight, and the fingers of Susan's free hand were spread loosely over her leg. In fact, when one looked closely, you could see that they all had contact with each of the others.

Rose looked back up at Susan, seeing the older woman in a new light. "What was so wrong when the other picture was taken?"

"I had rejected something that was the most important thing in all of our lives. I hurt my siblings deeply, and we were never the same again. It wasn't until after their deaths that I accepted it again." 

Rose was curious, but didn't pry any more than she already had on that topic. "Where did you learn to look happy when you really weren't?"

Susan got a longing look in her eyes. "In the most wonderful place ever. It's gone now, though, and I couldn't return even if it was still there." Her attention suddenly shifted back to where and when they were standing. "They were our court smiles. Very few people other than the four of us could ever tell when we were using them."

Giving the younger girl another kind but distant smile, Susan swept out of the room, leaving Rose with a lot to think about.

**Author's Note:**

> Susan is a little bit all over the place emotionally here. Let me know what you think or if there is anything that you want to see in this 'verse. I can't promise anything, but I'll try to use any prompts that I'm given.


End file.
